The administration of the planning system is in a state of collapse, according to the Ombudsman, Mr Kevin Murphy.
Even the most basic elements of the services provided by the planning sections of local authorities were deteriorating, the annual report of the Ombudsman, published yesterday, stated.
"The public tell me that they are unable to make contact with staff to discuss their complaints, that it is increasingly difficult to arrange meetings with planning officials and that letters are not acknowledged or replied to," the report says.
"I am also concerned about the very considerable delays on the part of local authorities in furnishing reports to my office on planning complaints. My overall impression is one of a system which is in a state of collapse."
Many local authorities were understaffed. As a result, the emphasis was on processing applications for planning permissions as opposed to policing breaches of planning permissions which had been granted or pursuing developers who had carried out unauthorised developments.
Where it was evident that a breach had occurred or an unauthorised development was in place, the Ombudsman had found that there was a marked reluctance on the part of local authorities to take developers to court. "I haven't ruled out the possibility of conducting a systemic investigation, making comparisons between individual local authorities," said Mr Murphy.
Galway County Council had adopted a policy of replying in writing only to representations which came from elected members of the council or members of the Oireachtas on behalf of individuals or groups.
"This cuts across democracy. People should be able to follow up their own complaint," Mr Murphy said. The Office of the Ombudsman had communicated its concern both to the Department and the council but, to date, the council had not set the policy aside.
The annual report also highlighted the plight of low-income families who were tied in to high-interest local authority loans and who had no mortgage protection. Mortgage protection was introduced for local authority mortgage-holders in 1986 and was not offered to existing mortgage-holders at the time. They were not told about the introduction of the scheme or advised to seek their own cover separately.
The number of complaints, including invalid complaints, received by the Ombudsman totalled 5,102 in 2000, compared to 3,986 in 1999. The office had 3,135 valid complaints in 2000, including 999 brought forward from 1999. Of the 2,075 complaints concluded last year, 460 were resolved, 84 were partially resolved and assistance was provided in 488 complaints.
Of the valid complaints received, 46.3 per cent related to Civil Service departments and offices, 36.9 per cent involved local authorities, 14.2 per cent related to health boards and 2.6 per cent to An Post.
For the seventh year in succession the Ombudsman has recorded in his annual report that the Ombudsman (Amendment) Act has yet to be enacted. In 1999, the Government approved the heads of a Bill which would allow the remit of the Ombudsman to be extended to bodies in the wider public sector such as public voluntary hospitals, FAS and the Health and Safety Authority.
Last night, the Labour Party called for the establishment of a planning inspectorate to enforce planning regulations and conditions and investigate complaints from the public on breaches of planning permission.
Labour's spokesman on the Environment, Mr Eamon Gilmore, said the Ombudsman's report confirmed the case which the Labour Party had been making for some time.
"This country's planning system is in serious trouble. We have only about half the number of professional planners needed by local authorities and by An Bord Pleanala. As the number of planning applications has increased in recent years, the enforcement of planning permissions and decisions has fallen by the wayside."
The full text of the Ombudsman's Annual Report (2000) is available on the Irish Times website at: www.ireland.com